Kilvert & Forbes: Barely Baked Brilliance

Getting into Quincy Market is a challenge, there's no doubt about it. First, there's usually some acrobatic group or mime on stilts or untalented group of middle schoolers playing brass instruments in front. Giant groups of people inexplicably stop to watch whatever it is that's going on, even though they don't really want to. It's best to stick out your elbows and push through these people because they're generally tourists and aren't in the same rush that you're in to get into the market. They must not know all the delicious stuff that's in there, because I have no idea why any reasonable person would rather watch a very quiet man on stilts than eat cookies and clam chowder and lobster rolls. Even if you successfully get into the market, you still have to get past the slow moving crowd that congregates around Starbucks. Despite the fact that these tourists ought to be properly caffeinated and a little quicker than the mime-watching tourists, they are still very, very slow. But it's okay, because you can see the beacon that marks your destination:

Cue the harp music, it's Kilvert & Forbes Bakeshop. Now, the Forbes part of Kilvert & Forbes refers to John Forbes Kerry, Massachusetts' esteemed senator, relatively awkward presidential candidate, and co-star of the best Jib Jab video ever.   In 1976, Senator Kerry was practicing law, which he apparently found "quite predictable and very boring." He thought that owning a bakery would make things better and so he and his business partner opened a bakery in Quincy Market, named it after their mothers, and ta-da! Kilvert & Forbes was born. Their sweets were baked according to family recipes and apparently, the new owners (Maggie's Sweets) still use them to this day.

Now. Senator Kerry. I was dismayed to hear that you think being a lawyer is predictable and boring. Kday and I have been promised thrilling adventures and epic suspense by our respective future employers, so we're not sure what you're talking about. *Cough* [Reconsiders career plan]...

We do, however, agree with you on one crucial point: COOKIES ARE A GREAT IDEA. Always. More to the point, Senator Kerry, your mom really knew her stuff when it came to cookie baking. Look at this spread! Now, I have to confess. I have been a Kilvert & Forbes cookie monster since before I moved to Boston. Every time I came up from New York (the other place where they keep all my favorite foods), I would purchase an M&M cookie. Indeed, this cookie quest was directly influenced by my desire to see what other cookie magic Boston had up its sleeve. At any rate, our chocolate chip cookie was delicious. We took it to my house, where we shared it with Drew.

It had a very nutty flavor, as though it had been baked on a pan that had just held some of the walnut cookies, all of which had a truly spectacular amount of walnuts on them (in a "would you like some cookie with your walnuts" kind of way). The chocolate chip cookie was oh-so-perfectly baked, soft and bendy in the middle and crispy on the outside. I still prefer the M&M cookies to the chocolate chip cookies (and certainly to the low fat options that Maggie and her misguided friends have introduced to the shop - ptooie!) but the chocolate chip cookie was still excellent. At $3.25, it was a bit expensive, but it was giant and easily shareable so that made up for it.

Moral of the story: If you are in Quincy Market, be sure you shove past the tourists and get yourself a cookie at Kilvert & Forbes. Tourists leave Boston, but cookies are forever.